Has EA's Origin Service Improved Any Over the Last Two Years?

[Shamus Young]

Has EA's Origin Service Improved Any Over the Last Two Years?

After taking a hatchet to the service in a column two years ago, Shamus looks at it again to see if things have gotten any better.

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[lacktheknack]

Time to bury that hatchet, then?

I avoided Origin entirely until last year. I was really surprised by how well it ended up working, and I kind of prefer it to Steam in terms of functionality, and have figured that it's only a matter of time before it's accepted as a decent alternative, albeit with a small library.

Also, the Ultimate Sims 2 is the best freebie ever released. Ever.

 

[Brian Tams]

Its become insane the lengths that users on this very forum will go to find something to bash Origin for, even going so far as to be cynical about free games.

Origins really not that far behind Steam at this point.

 

[Steve the Pocket]

But do they still permaban you from the entire service, and lock you out of all your games, if you post a YouTube video of somebody being an asshole in one of their games?

 

[WhiteTigerShiro]

So how big was the paycheck that EA put in your mailbox? ;P

Okay, but seriously, I guess I'll maybe be a little nicer to Origin in the future, but it does still have the problem of being tied to EA, and EA has done very little over the past couple of years to make me willing to welcome them onto my computer with open arms. Maybe I'll get over my prejudice enough to start-up an Origin account to check-out Titanfall, but at the same time it seems that now that the game is out EA is done marketing it and the game has seemingly died. Maybe there's a vibrant community, but I don't really know. EA is EA, and that means that Titanfall might as well not exist now that it's past it's milking stage. And there-in lies the main problem with Origin being tied to EA... it's virtually impossible to talk about anything related to them without it degrading into griping about their business strategies, and that's just not a company I want to throw money at.

 

[Clovus]

Are you enjoying the free copy of SecuROM that came with The Sims 2? Or has that already been fixed?

 

[shirkbot]

Why are the technical issues 4th on the list? I know it's not intended to be ranked, and I agree that EA is actually doing some cool things, especially allowing for game returns and giving away games for free, but all of that would be meaningless if they hadn't significantly improved on the actual functionality of the software. Runonsentence! From what was described it sounds like they've done well at getting it to parity with Steam, but I still hear horror stories.


Edit:

Are you enjoying the free copy of SecuROM that came with The Sims 2? Or has that already been fixed?

Wait, that was the DRM for Sims 2? Even free is too high a price for Sims 2 if that's still part of the package.

 

[Eri]

Still want nothing to do with it. I have Steam. I have Battle.net. Game makers are all trying to have their hand at having their own client and/or DRM, and I want nothing to do with supporting it.

 

[Amaror]

And they still didn't manage to offer a way to backup any games without jumping through massive hoops.

 

[danielcofour]

Yeah, but the biggest problem still remains: that Origin isn't so much of a service, but a DRM for a lot of games published by EA, and you don't have the option to use the game without it. If they could have the balls to take the final step and make Origin and optional thingy, then I'd be fine with it. Until then, it will remain what it has always been, albeit an improved version of it: an annoyance you can't get rid of... legally.

 

[Holythirteen]

Well gosh, they put somebody with a clue in charge of Origin and now even Shamus likes it?!? Hopefully EA fires that nutbar and jerks the reins in the opposite direction as soon as possible before they lose their title.

I would sorely miss having EA as my go-to example of what is wrong with big dumb dinosaur companies these days, but even if I got over that, Simshitty 2013, Battlefield 4, and Dungeon Keeper weren't that long ago, so no, no optimism from me, just slightly less pessimism.

This is absolutely a step in the right direction, but they could start stumbling back the other direction any second.

And I'm gonna need a better bribe than the Sims 2.

 

[FogHornG36]

short answer: no

Long answer: no, but they have given some games away free... so there is that...

 

[Eclectic Dreck]

And I'm gonna need a better bribe than the Sims 2.

Honestly, their service is legitimately fine these days. While it has fewer features than Steam, they are features that I quite literally don't care even slightly about (the trading card thing comes to mind here). Most of the time, the prices are comparable and it isn't any more offensive to run the Origin client than Steam (a departure from when the service was launched).

In short, it is just fine as a platform that to date has given me two free games (Peggle and Sims 2). There might have been others that I failed to notice but that's still better than Steam where the only free games offered are F2P.

I mean, you're free to continue hating EA for their transgressions. Right now though Origin probably shouldn't be counted among them. Of course, if you hold those transgressions against them, the catalog of stuff you can't get elsewhere shrinks considerably

 

[Kargathia]

While I don't foresee myself making an Origin account in the forseeable future, I must say I'm happy to hear they're at least moving away from being godawful.

Mostly because Steam users stand to gain if Steam actually faces some honest competition.

 

[dakkster]

Origin wasn't really on my map until the Humble Origin Bundle. With that I created an account and got a few free games like Battlefield 3 and Dead Space 3 in the last year. I don't see what the big hubbub is about. Origin as a service is completely fine.

 

[Zontar]

Origin wasn't really on my map until the Humble Origin Bundle. With that I created an account and got a few free games like Battlefield 3 and Dead Space 3 in the last year. I don't see what the big hubbub is about. Origin as a service is completely fine.

I have to agree. Though I've had a few technical issues, I've gained a fairly neutral stance on the system overall, and so far my whole library has been the games on the Origin Bundle and every free give away they've had so far. Plus Battlefield 1942 because that's the best Battlefield.

 

[ZZoMBiE13]

I did pick up one Origin bundle. They were offering all the Command and Conquer games for something like $10. For a fan who goes way back to the beginning of that franchise, that's a hell of a deal. Not only in price, but in convenience. Having them all under the one singular client, all able to run without fuddling about in a dozen settings menus or having to setup the right emulators for the older games. It was worth the cost.

I also like that they have Twitch streaming built right into the client without a need for a third party software. It's not ideal given that I don't use the Origin client very often, but it's nice to know it's there if I want to bust out some sick combos in Arkham City or if I decide to share my sick base-building C&C skills with the rest of the world.

It just burns every time I think of the reason I originally downloaded Origin. Sim City. It burns us in our soulsssssses.

 

[Optimystic]

They're giving away a lot of free games. I got Battlefield 3 and Plants vs. Zombies for free; I also got all the Dead Space titles for something like 75% off.

Origin will likely be the only place to get Dragon Age Inquisition, so I predict another influx of new users.